Is it Better to Build a Home from Scratch?

A lot has been made of the potential profits from property developments and how these developments lead to far greater profits than the more traditional option of buying houses, renovating them and flipping them. For those looking for a home to live in, the potential of buying land for sale in Perth by Lend Lease and building their own home to plan offers an attractive way to put their toes in the water.

There are a lot of benefits to building your own home – you get input into the design of the house and final finishes from day one. You can choose a customized design that really suits you and your family and you get to move in knowing that no further renovations will be required for a while. You are also not buying someone else’s problems and are moving into a brand new home.

You get to build what you need in the near future and can, if desired, leave room for expansions at a later stage or as the budget allows. And, you may save in terms of costs to build rather than buy a home – not only are you not paying for space that you will never use, but there is a higher potential return on your investment when you sell as well – especially if you choose an up and coming area to build in.

It is not all wines and roses, however. For starters, financing can prove a little more problematic as there is no actual collateral for the banks to work with. There will be restrictions on what you are allowed to draw down from the mortgage – most banks will allow drawdowns to pay builders only when the building reaches a certain level.
Then there is actually the time taken for the house to be built. Here we are talking about months whereas with a bought home, you could basically pay and move in immediately. The concern here also would be that there could be delays with the building of the home and, if you are not careful, this could be dragged out.

The other concern is that the work may be shoddy and you could end up with a house, at the end of the day, that is not inhabitable – with a bought house, you can have the property inspected up front. When you build your house, you are not going to know until it is done.

Of course, there are other small things to consider – first off, visualizing your ideal property may be harder than you imagine. You would also need to have a professional draw up the plans and have these plans passed – it is important that you do not contravene any city regulations.

How to Protect Yourself

If you are willing to do some careful research, you can plan for what may go wrong and find ways around it.
The first place to start at is with your bankers to find out what kind of building mortgage you might qualify for and what the terms of the mortgage would be.

Once you have the mortgage sorted out, you can start looking for your land and the architects and builders who will make your dream home a reality.

Doing research here is vital – do not be afraid to ask for real references and check up on these, ask to be taken to see work that has already been done and check what professional associations the builders and architects are members of. You should also do research online and look for reviews – both positive and negative.

When dealing with the architects, it is important to convey what you want in as clear a manner as possible. If possible, take them out to see the piece of land that you have bought as well.

When dealing with the builders, the same is advised. Take them to see the land they will be working with and show them the plans of what they will be building so that there is no chance of comebacks later.

The next step is to draw up the actual contract. Here it is important to discuss time frames and agree upon what remedy will be followed if delays occur. This should all be set down in the contract. It is advisable to have the contract drawn up by an attorney so that everything is legally binding.

At the end of the day though, you will also need to physically monitor the progress being made by regularly visiting the site. That way, if problems crop up, they can be dealt with swiftly.

2 Comments

I think the hard part is counting the number of hours it would take to do a scratch build. If I had to spend a lot of my time picking counter tops, paint colors, budgets, furniture… it’d be hard to get any other work done. That’s why I’m wanting to buy one already built.